Ukraine-Russia Peace Talks Collapse as Both Sides Fail to Agree Ceasefire

Talks between Ukraine and Russia have seemingly collapsed as the two sides failed to agree on a ceasefire or the creation of a humanitarian corridor for the besieged city of Mariupol.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told a press conference on Thursday that no progress had been achieved in his talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Turkey.

However, Kuleba said he was willing to continue to engage with Lavrov in the same format and expressed some hope that progress could be made to end the Russian invasion of his country.

Kuleba said that Lavrov was "not in a position to commit" to a humanitarian corridor for Mariupol but that the Russian foreign minister would "correspond" with Russian authorities on the matter.

The countries were also not able to agree on a 24-hour ceasefire, with Kuleba suggesting Lavrov again could not make a commitment on the issue.

"We also raised the issue of a ceasefire—24-hour ceasefire—to resolve the most pressing humanitarian issues," Kuleba said. "We did not make progress on this since it seems that there are other decision-makers for this matter in Russia."

The foreign minister said he would be "ready to meet again in this format if there are prospects for a substantial discussion and for seeking solutions."

"I'm ready to continue this engagement with the purpose of ending the war in Ukraine, stopping the suffering of Ukrainian civilians and liberating our territories from the Russian occupying force," Kuleba said.

He described talks with Lavrov as "difficult" but said his country would not surrender to Russia.

"I want to repeat that Ukraine has not surrendered, does not surrender, and will not surrender," Kuleba said.

The Russian foreign minister also delivered a press conference on Thursday following the failure to agree on a ceasefire and a humanitarian corridor. Lavrov said that Russia wanted to continue talks with Ukraine but that Russian forces' so-called "special military operation" was going as planned.

"We will come out of this crisis with refreshed views of the world—with no illusions about the West. We will try to never again be dependent on the West," Lavrov said. "Until the end, we wanted to resolve the situation in Ukraine through diplomatic means."

Lavrov also claimed that "civilians are being used as hostages" by what he described as "so-called territorial defense forces" and said they were being used as "human shields." The Russian authorities have made this claim in the past, while Ukraine has accused Russia of using people as human shields as well as committing war crimes.

The invasion has now entered its second week with the U.S. and its allies imposing major sanctions on Russia and providing aid to Ukraine. However, NATO has ruled out imposing a no-fly zone over the country despite Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky repeatedly calling for this

Update 03/10/22 06.31a.m. E.T.: This article was updated to include more information.